


In His Arms

by upstead_sails



Category: Chicago PD (TV)
Genre: 21st District Police Station (Chicago PD), F/M, One Chicago (Chicago Franchise)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-25
Updated: 2021-03-06
Packaged: 2021-03-16 09:35:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,437
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29698566
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/upstead_sails/pseuds/upstead_sails
Summary: An unexpected kiss in the middle of a bar leads from one thing to another, and now Jay Halstead and Hailey Upton are attempting to keep their relationship, or blossoming-whatever-it-is, under wraps in the Intelligence Unit.
Relationships: Jay Halstead & Hailey Upton
Kudos: 45





	1. Thursday Morning

It's been three days since the kiss.

Those few moments frozen in time, the sense of comfort and warmth still lingering. _______________________________________________________________________

Boots click on the tile floor as Hailey Upton enters the 21st district. It's 7:45 in the morning, and she has to get started on filing paperwork for a case. A smile plays at the corners of her mouth as she walks past Jay's empty desk. 

She's the first one to arrive at work, sure that the others are soon to follow. She plants herself in her chair, rummaging through the extensive files Voight placed on her desk the night before. Not five minutes pass before Voight appears out of the side entrance, nodding his usual "good morning" to Hailey. She nods in return, returning to her morning tasks.

She manages to complete the majority of the paperwork before the rest of the team rolls into the bullpen. Kevin greets her with his infamous fist-bump, Hailey shaking her head and smiling as he heads to the locker room.

Kim and Adam arrive together, Adam stealing a pen from Hailey's desk before sitting at his own. She simply rolls her eyes and maintains eye-contact on her computer. 

Jay stiffly wanders from the side entrance as well, his neck bruised from yesterday. A case had taken their attention for the past few days, and Jay got into it with an armed gangbanger. A bruised neck and another story to tell is all he managed to escape with, thankfully. Hailey nods at her partner and he returns the gesture as he enters the break room to make a cup of coffee. 

He then plants himself in the desk beside hers, glancing over and smiling before wincing at the pain in his neck. She furrows her eyebrows at him, almost to check in on him, and he nods. She knows he's okay, because compared to everything he's been through, this was nothing. She gives him a kind smile before standing to make a cup of coffee herself.

While this Thursday morning was a typical work day, Hailey couldn't take her mind off the past few days with Jay. As she prepares her mug, her mind switches gears to Monday night, after that kiss at the bar...

The way Jay's face was plastered with a new expression after they broke the kiss. The way he grabbed her hand and led her to his truck, a nearly silent drive to his apartment feeling like a million miles. The way his eyes roamed her figure as she undressed in his bedroom, and the way he cradled her with his strong arms before crawling on top of her in bed. The way he...

Her coffee nearly overspills in her mug, shifting her focus back to the present moment. She takes a sip and returns to her desk, Voight walking out of his office as she sits down. 

The Sergeant explains today's tasks, unraveling another complicated case related to a group of gangbangers. A few leads popped up as Kim attempted to inspect the files of possible suspects, but the evidence came up dry. After an unsuccessful house raid, the team gets a call that a suspect was spotted in a house two blocks west.

Hailey and Jay find themselves planted in his truck, awaiting just a few houses down from the suspect's. He keys his radio to update Voight, and the Sergeant says to hold their position until further notice.

"So..." He shifts his position more sideways to sort of face her.

"Hmm?" She smiles and glances at him, raising her eyebrows slightly. 

He grins and looks straight ahead, his focus half on the suspect's house. "The other night..." he trails off.

"Was... incredible?" she jokingly finishes his sentence.

He shakes his head and conceals a laugh, his face swinging toward hers again. "Yeah, something like that." He chuckles.

Hailey begins to form words, but her focus is diverted to the suspect's house, and his gaze follows hers. An average-height man with dusty blonde hair strides out of the side door of the house, peeking around the neighborhood before walking down the sidewalk casually. "There he is." Hailey says behind her binoculars.

"Move in." Voight's muffled voice echoes through the radio, and Jay and Hailey make their way out of the truck, strolling behind the suspect. Jay gets within earshot of the man and yells, "Kendall Graham, Chicago PD!" The suspect barely glances behind him before darting across the street to the other sidewalk, Jay quickly speeding after him. Both of their guns raised as they run, Hailey and Jay chase the suspect down an alley to another block, before the man stops in the street.

"I swear to you, if you don't drop to your knees in two seconds." Jay's demanding voice threatening from behind his gun. The man silently curses and pulls out a gun of his own, holding it at his side.

"Drop it, Kendall, it's over." Hailey's voice chimes in. The suspect glances around as Voight's truck trails in before Kim and Adam roll up. With five guns now aimed his way, the man reluctantly lowers his gun, holding his hands behind his head.

Jay rushes to him and pins his hands behind his back, cuffing him before leading him to a squad car that had just arrived. "Nice work you two" Voight nods at Hailey and Jay as they walk toward him. They sigh breaths of relief as they watch the suspect they've chased for three days being driven away. 

After the scene clears, the partners make their way back to Jay's truck. It's just past 2 o'clock in the afternoon, a long day barely getting started. The team arrives back at the district minutes later to wrap up the case. Jay debriefs Trudy on the situation and she begins the process to send him to County. 

7 o'clock arrives slowly, as the day drags on. While a productive day, Hailey's mind continues to wander about the unfinished conversation in the truck. 

Her and Jay's partnership hadn't changed a bit- still the familiar, safe, and trustworthy connection they'd always had. But since waking up in his bed, she knew this was a new season.


	2. Love Is A Funny Thing

** This chapter is a direct continuation of Chapter 1**

Content Warning: Bruises

__________________________________________________________

It's just past 7:45pm when Voight peeks his head out of his office door. The team glances up from their jumble of paperwork as their Sergeant sighs before speaking in a husky tone, his expression is hard to read, as usual. "Hey, good work today you two." He nods toward Jay and Hailey, watching them return the gesture.

"We've had a tough few days with these cases. Somehow managed to escape with minimal injuries." His gaze fixed at Jay, who's neck is still noticeably spattered with purple and blue hues. "Tomorrow, don't rush on coming into work. Take it easy, the day's yours unless your phone rings, you hear me?" He makes eye contact with each member of the unit as they nod in near unison. The Sergeant nods once again before grabbing his jacket, a queue for the team to head home too.

Kevin, Kim, and Adam all grab their things and make conversation as they head for the stairs down to the front desk. Hailey notices Jay walk toward the locker room, his hand cradling his neck. She can tell he's in pain still, but they both know only time and Tylenol will heal the bruises. She grabs her pink jacket and follows his footsteps to retrieve her bag.

"Hey, long day huh? How's the neck?" Hailey rounds the corner and glances at Jay as he finishes splashing his face with warm water. Jay smiles shyly at his partner leaning against a locker door. "Just sore, little rest will do me good." To this Hailey cracks a smile, opening her locker to pack her bag.

"So... uh, tonight, think I could crash at your place?" Jay blurts out as he turns to lean his back against the sink, his arms propping him in place behind him. Hailey hides her expression as her mind is painted with the memories of Monday night. Three days prior, it was Jay's apartment where the two spent the night for the first time; his bed where they had sex for the first time.

Tuesday was a blur, and on Wednesday Jay got into the altercation where he was graciously gifted his bruises. Wednesday he stayed with Will to be monitored by his older, more protective brother. Tonight Hailey wanted nothing more than to be in his comforting presence, nonetheless at her own apartment, where they had shared many memories as just partners.

She smiles up at him, his eyebrows lifted in maybe a little too much expectation. "Y-yeah, that sounds nice." He grins and turns to grab a bigger bag out of his locker, stuffing into it a towel, shampoo, and a change of clothes. She shakes her head out of his eyesight, noticing how prepared he always is.

"C'mon, you have the good tequila anyway." Jay chuckles as he strides out of the locker room. Hailey's laugh warms his soul as she follows him to his truck. Absolutely nothing has changed between the two since they slept together, except maybe the fact that they're closer than ever, physically and emotionally. Years of pent up tension was long gone in a single moment, and now a new level of trust had been established.

Love is a funny thing; it had existed between the two long before either of them got a notion of romantic interest, but had grown from a protective, loyal partnership to an established, secure intimacy.

Jay tapped at his phone as Hailey hoisted herself into the roomy passenger seat of his Ram. "Adam?" she tilts her head at his phone. A typical Thursday would end with a night at Molly's; booze and humor were the coping mechanisms of choice for the team. Jay rolls his eyes and fails to conceal a smile, facing her. "Mhm, told him I had better plans with one hot blonde partner." Her eyes grow wide and she realizes her mouth had fallen open. "You did not..." She trails off, not wanting their so-called undercover love to be revealed to the unit just yet.

Jay laughs and shakes his head, his soft expression nearly melting her. "No, I didn't. Told him I needed to rest up and kick back tonight. He reluctantly understood, if that's even a thing." Somewhere between a sigh and a laugh falls from Hailey's lips as she buckles up. 

A smile tugs at the corner of Jay's freckled cheeks as he backs out of the district. "Hot blonde partner, really?" Hailey's tone is playful, but Jay just flashes a grin and nods, not looking away from the road ahead of him.

A warm sensation rushes through her as she fixes her gaze on his freckled size profile. It's dark enough to where she appears to be safe from him noticing.

It's a short drive before Jay parallel parks outside of Hailey's apartment complex, and it's not long before they're facing each other by her countertop, tequilas in hand. There was not an ounce of tension or a hint of awkwardness in their conversation, everything between them flowed naturally. Hailey takes their empty glasses, soaking them in the sink. 

As she turns around, she notices Jay rubbing his bruises gently, his fingers dabbling against his discolored neck. "You sure you're good? Looks pretty deep." Without fully thinking it through, she moved to stand by the stool he's sitting in, lifting his hand to examine the damage.

Her right thumb, barely noticeable to him, traces the edge of the darkest bruise. He flashes his gaze to her hand still on his, and then at her kind blue eyes. He can tell she's worried, just like she always has been when he'd hashed it out with suspects or caught

Without asking, she quickly grabs a washcloth and runs it under the hot water of the sink, ringing it out before pressing it gently to his neck.

Her hand tenderly dabs the washcloth over the expansive bruises. She knows that around two or three days after a bruise forms, a hot compress helps relieve the muscle damage. "Thank you, Hailey. I'm good now, promise." He adjusts his hand to reassuringly squeeze hers, his eyes darting between hers.

Before he can continue, her hand wraps around the back of his neck, her position cautious of his soreness, as she presses her lips to his. Her small figure fit perfectly against his strong one, her other hand running from his shoulder to his side. His strong arm found her lower waist quickly, his lips maneuvering their way around hers.

A split second passed, and before Hailey could register what was happening, Jay had suddenly lifted her onto his lap, and he slowly stood, making his way toward her bedroom. Somewhere between a gasp and a laugh escaped Hailey's lips without breaking the kiss, and Jay cradles her figure safely before climbing on top of her in the bed.

Every ounce of worry or heaviness from this past week, every moment of angst from every heart-pounding case, fades quickly in the embrace of her partner.

In his arms, everything makes sense.


	3. Seven O’Clock

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A devastating case leaves Intelligence with more questions than answers. Elsewhere, twelve hours might accomplish more than a lifetime.

** This is a direct continuation of Chapter 2**

Content/Trigger Warnings: mild sexual content. Discussions of a case (rape, murder, suicide).

_____________________

A wave of groggy consciousness washes over Jay as the morning light peers through the tan curtains of Hailey's bedroom.

His phone reads seven o'clock.

For Jay, 7:00am was a milemarker of productivity during his time overseas. But here, years down the road, slow 7:00am wakeup calls mean that he gets to roll over to the soft features of the blonde beside him.

If he just lays his eyes on her for a minute, he accomplishes far more by seven o'clock than in his combat days.

He can't help but crack a smile at the way she's sleeping; his badass, hard-headed partner now completely and utterly calm.

____

Their second night together closely resembled the first; slow and savoring, yet heated and passionate.

So much was still new territory, but it was a new that felt old. A new that felt familiar, safe.

____

His finger skims Hailey's temple, drawing back strands of her hair that had fallen over her ear. Her eyes slowly blinked open, her dimples appearing alongside that smile he lived for.

"Been staring at me for an hour or what?" Her half-asleep voice is followed by Jay's soft, deep laugh.

"Hardly." He furrows his eyebrows at her as his hand rests on her upper arm. "Only about 15 minutes. You know you love the spotlight." This time it's her laugh cutting him off, with a shove playfully against his bare chest.

Her shove does nothing of course- he just shakes his head, leaning in to kiss her forehead, followed by about six more down her cheek to her neck.

Her teasing laugh from earlier suddenly turns to quiet sighs, her head naturally tilting to invite him further. Her hands run up the back of his neck, carefully over his bruises, one of them running through his hair.

"Thought so." He breaths against her, her laugh vibrating against his mouth.

She can feel him grinning against her neck as he traces her skin with his lips and tongue. Hovering over her- one hand almost to her back and the other propping him up- he attempts to unclip her bra and do away with it.

His one hand works quickly to her surprise, his mouth now meeting hers in an advance of desire. She's pretty sure it's him sighing into her this time, but her future teasing remark is halted by the vibrating tone of Jay's phone.

Those goddamn phones.

He groans before breaking the kiss, propping himself up to look down at her. "Can't win for losing, huh?" She rolls her eyes and presses a hand to his chest. Earlier that week, their first morning together had been cut short by Hailey's mom in a panic when things went awry with her dad's health.

A tinny voice calls his name over Jay's phone as he answers. "Sarge? Yeah, of course. Damn. Be right there." He hangs up and shakes his head, sighing.

"Voight?" Hailey gazes at him. His nod confirms before he continues. "Caught a case, three women raped and murdered. Suspect is down. Looks like a rape, murder, suicide. Ruze and Kev responded about twenty minutes ago- homicide graciously handed the case to us."

He pulls on his jeans from the previous night, a sage green sweater following it.

"Good God..." Hailey runs her palm across her forehead, now standing to get dressed herself.

___

Jay's truck pulls into the scene not long after, the two exchanging looks before they get out. In the distance, Voight glances at the partners, but quickly resumes his conversation with an Alderman.

Ruzek approaches the two, his hand waving an "I give up" motion. Jay pats him on the shoulder and they join the rest of the unit standing by six scattered bodies covered with blue sheets.

"How's the neck?" Kevin tosses toward Jay. A thumbs up as his answer warrants an eye roll from the detective.

His mottled bruises still grace him, he knows, but last night faded the pain more than the blue hues.

"Alright. Looks like we're chasing a ring." Calls Voight's husk voice. "Area 4 Homicide's been tracking a crew associated with these bastards. Only one woman was able to be identified, 'rest are gonna be a tough road."

He continues as he hands the unit pictures of the woman from an old Facebook post. "Ina Lopez, 23. Student at Northwestern, squeaky clean record. Other two are thought to be associated, so do some digging." Head shakes and sighs appear from the detectives, the young, beautiful woman pictured on a beach in the printed-out post.

___

Hours later, nearing lunch, the unit works arduously in the bullpen to get to the bottom of this case. Kim emerges from her desk, pinning a few pictures of men to the already crammed board. "Might have something," Her voice grabs the attention of the rest of the detectives.

"Jorge Peña? That punk we arrested two years back? Well, turns out he's associated with Maxwell," she continues, pointing to a photo labeled "Suspect 1: Travis Maxwell".

"Peña was reported in 2018 after grooming him, recruiting him and two other men to do the dirty work for him..."

"Maxwell was released five months ago from County, and his phone was pinged by Ina Lopez' house three times in the last week and a half." Hailey's voice cuts Kim off, finishing her remark.

The unit begins to scramble on digging up the suspects records, desperate to find the information on the other two women.

Voight rounds the side hallway, files in hand. "Maria Yun, Kassidy Maxwell. Other two women." He nearly slams the papers down on a table, pictures of the women spread out between the suspects' headshots.

"Maxwell? You're kidding." Jay strides up to Voight's sprawl of records, cursing silently as he rushes to find Kim.

___

It's closing in on evening now, the team finally wrapping up their case to debrief Area 4 Homicide.

"Travis and Kassidy Maxwell, siblings. Suspect and victim respectively." The file on Voight's desk reads.

"Peña groomed Travis, turns out he wrapped his sister into this." Jay calls out from his desk.

"Held dirt on Travis, threatened their family, the whole nine yards. Maxwell, with the other two men, must've been deep in this ring by that time. This was a rescue turned bad Sarge. Other two men took charge, killed Maxwell, and raped and killed the women before taking themselves out." Hailey finishes, standing beside him.

"Call County, have Area 4 interrogate Peña in custody. Give them a statement, I'll brief Miller." Voight calls to Kim, her nod responding as she picks up a phone.

He grabs a box of records, files, and pictures, setting it on his desk, then appearing to the bullpen. "I think we're done here, good work today." His usual finishing remarks are mundane to the crew.

Last minute phone calls, emails, and organizing files finish out the day for Intelligence.

A much needed stretch rustles from Jay's desk as he glances at his phone.

Seven O'clock.

A wave of warmth fills him as he glances toward Hailey, her gaze meeting him. She winks, and yeah, a lot has been accomplished in twelve hours.


End file.
